For Immediate Release
December 20, 2007

For More Information:
Gabriele Ludwig
209-765-0578

Almond Pest Management Alliance Honored by DPR with Second IPM Innovator Award

Dec. 20, 2007 Modesto, CA - - The Almond Pest Management Alliance’s latest recognition as an IPM Innovator is the result of a cooperative effort between growers, industry groups, researchers, and regulatory agencies to help integrate economically and environmentally sound production practices into commercial orchards, according to project participants.

The Almond Pest Management Alliance (PMA) was selected by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to receive an unprecedented second IPM Innovator Award for 2007 for its publication of “A Seasonal Guide to Environmentally Responsible Pest Management Practices in Almonds.” The IPM Innovator award will be presented in a ceremony Jan. 17 at the Cal EPA headquarters in Sacramento.

“For the first time this year, we will honor repeat IPM Innovators,” said DPR Director Mary-Ann Warmerdam. “Our partners in the almond industry are being honored for the second time, as the Almond Board won an Innovator Award in 1997. It’s especially gratifying to see commodity groups that continue to distinguish themselves as leaders in reduced-risk pest management, and our Almond Pest Management Alliance friends are most worthy of this second award.”

The PMA is a cooperative effort among industry stakeholders including the Almond Board of California, Almond Hullers and Processors Association, UC Statewide IPM Program, UC Cooperative Extension, pest control advisors and growers, DPR, and U.S. EPA Region 9. 

The Seasonal Guide, written by the UC Cooperative Extension, provides almond growers with a season-long road map for farming almonds using reduced-risk, environmental responsible pest management practices. The information that went into producing the 8-page guide was gleaned from five years of field data and experience demonstrated in Almond Pest Management Alliance orchards throughout almond growing regions in California.

"We are finding that funding Pest Management Alliance work and Seasonal Guides such as this one is money well spent,” said Cindy Wire, manager of Agricultural Initiatives for U.S. EPA Region 9. “We will see environmental benefits over time from the use of this guide."

UC Farm Advisor Carolyn Pickel, a co-lead on the Almond PMA Project, said the Almond Pest Management Alliance has allowed growers to examine these reduced-risk practices across a number of years and different geographies. Results replicated in these trials have given growers the confidence to adopt practices within their own orchards.

Gabriele Ludwig, the Almond Board’s senior manager for global technical and regulatory affairs, said the cooperative nature of the Almond PMA has been key to its success.

“Almond growers are making the successful conversion to environmentally responsible and sustainable almond production, largely as a result of the growing practices tested and proven through the Almond Pest Management Alliance and published in the Seasonal Guide,” Ludwig said.

 “This project and Seasonal Guide could only have succeeded through a cooperative effort between growers, industry groups, researchers and regulators to bring environmentally responsible crop production practices into the commercial mainstream.”

Cooperators on the PMA project and Seasonal Guide include:

Project leaders: Carolyn Pickel, and Walt Bentley, UC IPM Advisors

UCCE Farm Advisors: Joe Connell, Roger Duncan, and Mario Viveros

UC Statewide IPM Program: UCCE Entomologist Frank Zalom, Director

Regulatory Agencies: Bob Elliot, DPR and Cindy Wire, U.S. EPA Region 9

Industry Groups: Chris Heintz and Mark Looker, Almond Board of California; Gene Beach, Almond Hullers and Processors Assoc

Grower Cooperators: Merlyn Garber, Thomas Vetsch and Nick Bertagna

The Almond Board of California administers a grower-enacted Federal Marketing Order under the supervision of the United States Department of Agriculture.  Established in 1950, the Board’s charge is to promote the best quality almonds, California’s largest tree nut crop.  For more information on the Almond Board of California or almonds, visit www.AlmondsAreIn.com.

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